In this luminescent dining room, a Louis XV walnut armoire, antique pink Murano glass candelabras, and a 19th-century crystal Italian chandelier join forces with 1930s metal garden chairs and a pair of whimsical garden planters. Modern touches include curtains created from iridescent pink and orange fabric stitched together as stripes and suspended from a stainless steel cable.

The fancy and not-so-fancy mingle in an unabashedly green dining room that pairs elaborate silk curtains with casual bamboo shades and gilt framed plein air paintings. Curtain material is from the Silk Trading Company. The silk fabric draping the circular dining table is from Scalamandré.

This dining room features some formal-flourish France -- pilasters, ceiling details, a Versailles-style parquet floor, and a French-blue wall color all add up to a hearty bonjour! All the same, the fact that the table, chairs, and console table are reproductions ensures that the room is still plenty user-friendly for a family with young children. The chairs are painted instead of being a high-maintenance glossy wood finish.

A shimmering shell-encrusted conservatory, furnished with a simple table and blue wicker chairs, serves as a dining room for guests and breakfast room for the homeowners. A late-19th-century Italian chandelier with unusual daisy crystals complements the shellwork. By day the room goes airy with its French doors flung open. At night the silver from the mother-of-pearl walls sparkles beautifully in the candlelight.

The gold standard for this dining room is set by a 100-year-old Louis XVI-style gilt console table with an elaborate gilt-framed mirrored top. The gorgeous piece commands one wall of the dining room. whose walls were hand-painted to suggest gold linen. Another treasure, the circa-1900 crystal French chandelier, illuminates the transparency of a custom-designed Lucite pedestal-base table.

Mother Nature holds court in a mirrored and fabric-draped dining room that pays tribute to all things gardening. Orchids reach upward from an outdoor glass-top table supported by a stone base of architectural scrolls. A delicate duo of window coverings -- celery-color draperies that break on the floor and white organdy café curtains behind them -- provide privacy. Garden statues gaze out from a corner, and a large European landscape painting adds to the outdoor elan. Gustavian antique chairs boast earthy brown leather seats, with their backs sporting a snappy brown ticking.

An overall palette of rich earth and clear water tones extends into the dining room, where plaids, florals, and stripes live together in unified harmony. The dining room's tall windows, dressed in simple drapery panels, offer drama as well as a focused view of the beautiful countryside. Roman shades can be lowered to block the sun's rays when needed.

Contemporary diners join hands with the past when seated at an elongated 19th-century French oak harvest table beneath a vintage French chandelier from New Orleans. Oak floors are cut from 19th-century beams. And at the far end, 18th-century Venetian bronze doors flank the dining room archway.

Green-and-white covered chairs and fabric panels at the windows keep an all-white dining room with pearly-white ceiling from feeling stuffy. At the table, plump slipper chairs add a lush contrast to sleek klismos-style side chairs that are accented with simple green silk cushions and elegant rope trim. A carved fireplace surround topped with a silver-leaf mirror acts as the room's focal point.

English oiled walls glow at the far end of a dining room whose handsome appearance results from the juxtaposition of old and new. Above the fireplace, a circa-1800 Italian mirror is flanked by 1920s French sconces. In front of it stands a focal-point pair of new iron topiaries. Bee skeps-turned-fixtures offer a surprising alternative to more expected chandeliers. Below, a crisply modern walnut table is paired with early-1900s Louis XIII-style French dining chairs dressed in linen slipcovers.

This luscious dining room is rendered in a palette of soft blues and creams, and grounded with gleaming wood furniture and golden accents. While formal, the space is far from stuffy. The gorgeous fabrics are from Lee Jofa for the draperies and from Bergamo on the chairs. The chandelier is an antique.

Aqua and cream with a dusting of metallic finishes give the dining room's neoclassical style a youthful twist. The grass cloth wall covering is tinted the color of a lake on a clear day, with a shimmery gold ceiling to create a heightened aura during dinner parties. Authentic and reproduction antiques mingle beneath the auspices of a crystal chandelier.

A spicy color scheme connects this dining room to the magnificent high-desert landscape outside. Subtle variations of terra cotta, apricot, and gold dissolve into each other with easy, tranquil grace. Golden color was layered onto freshly stuccoed walls to create a sun-kissed radiance. French doors connecting the dining room and patio are painted orange, part of an effort to brighten the whole house.

A large vintage photo of New York City printed on linen (an IKEA find) hangs in a hall just outside this intimate dining room. French doors on the opposite wall open to a terrace. The chandelier is custom-made. The black chairs with cream-colored seats are from Baker.

This dining room's palette reflects the tones of the beach and sea, but stops short of being symbiotic with natural surroundings. Instead, the dining room presents a global view. Accordingly, the new glass-top refectory table with four pairs of modernistic tripod legs partners with a mix of chairs of older styles, including a set of six made in 18th-century Sweden. A Vietri vessel joins a pair of Georg Jensen candelabra on the tabletop.

Positioned to take advantage of all the natural light, a simple rectangular dining table partners well with vintage Harvey Probber chairs featuring tubular steel bases. Above the table, hanging "urchin lights" were made by attaching light bulbs to a wire armature. Creamy walls and woodwork frame carefully chosen objets d'art as well as an ever-changing view outside. Wide planks of white pine stayed in their original condition with gaps and cracks left intact.